440 South Church facts for kids
440 South Church, also called the Ally Center, is a tall building in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has 15 floors and lots of space, about 368,000 square feet. This building was designed by a team called Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates. The company that built it was Bovis Lend Lease. Two main companies that have offices here are Ally Financial and HDR. The building was made to be very eco-friendly, following special LEED gold rules. This means it's a "green building" that helps the environment.
Contents
Building History
Starting the Project
On June 19, 2008, work officially began on the 440 South Church building. This project cost about $78 million. It was started by two groups, Novare Group and Trinity Capital Advisors. They also started another building project nearby called Catalyst, which is a 27-story apartment building. Both buildings are on the same large piece of land in downtown Charlotte.
HDR, a company that designs buildings and engineering projects, was the first business to decide to move into 440 South Church. They planned to use about 45,000 square feet of space. On March 6, 2009, the building reached its highest point, which is called "topping out."
Ally Financial Moves In
In April 2009, a big company called GMAC Financial Services, which is now known as Ally Financial, announced its plans. They decided to move their main offices from another part of Charlotte to 440 South Church. They planned to use over 106,000 square feet across four floors. They also thought about using even more space later.
At that time, GMAC had 265 employees in Charlotte. Even though they planned to reduce some jobs, they also added many new ones. This meant a total increase of about 200 jobs in Charlotte. Because GMAC created these jobs and promised to keep them for nine years, the state of North Carolina offered them $4.5 million in special payments. Charlotte was a good place for GMAC because many people there had experience in banking. The CEO of GMAC, Al de Molina, had worked at Bank of America for many years and lived in Charlotte. However, the main headquarters for GMAC stayed in Detroit.
Building Completion
HDR, the architectural and engineering company, moved into their new offices in 440 South Church in October 2009. GMAC Financial Services also started moving their offices into the building in late November 2009.
Images for kids
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440 South Church, also known as the Ally bank building
